Boba fett helmet pep build (my first build)

T-visor.com will work for your visor. As for the earcaps I recommend trying to make them yourself first. It's not as hard as it looks. Check out this thread for clear instructions on how to make your own http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/a...h-build-24821/

Whilst I appreciate your scratch build, there are a few makers of helmets on here that can offer decent ear pieces and stalks? it may make for a quicker build. (just my 2 cents)

I think theres some guy Mojo fett or something working on metal ones....but otherwise you may get lucky and pick up some resin ones here in the cargo hold for cheap people are going to be getting helmets and upgrading to metal so its only a matter of time to get some resin ones

the measurements on the T-visor site, can someone help me make sure i understand them correctly, how are the measurements taken from the visors, im not sure how to interpret them and i dont want buy the wrong visor which ends up being either too big or too small.

thanks

someone help me with my confusion on the measurements?

The problem is that we don't know your scratch build helmet's measurement, but I think the T-visor should exceed the visor area at least with 10-15mm (maybe more).

More questions needing answers

i've come to the point of putting a coat of primer on my helmet but its a new thing for me and unsure of the how to tackle this.

could someone give me a quick run down of points/actions to do. im thinking i'll end up buggering up and i really don't want to.
i only have a rough idea of what to do; use wet and dry to rub down the surface, then give it a wipe and clean to remove any dust and grease and spray it with primer, hows that sound?

Sounds right to me bud. Once the primer is set you can begin your stencil/ paint process which I am in the process of now : )
B

i dont think im going be able give mine a decent paint job, probably commission someone to do that hard work for me.

added my first coat of primer, post some pictures later for your criticism and praise.

first update in a while, i have some pictures for you this time for you to peek at.

since last update, i focused on thickness of the bondo/filler on the cheeks on the edges as it just too fat.

once i dremel and sanded away a bucket load of material i began work on the little defects here and there.

pictures before primer.



my bucket currently has one big vent, that will be corrected later though

also need to build up the bit for the ear cap to fix to




then my first ever attempt at using primer in my life.






im not one to 'blow my own trumpet' but im really happy and proud of how its turned out to up this point.

main problem to correct is a split along the top of the ridge running around the helmet
burly picture to show problem

thats on about 75% of the ridge so have to fill and strengthen that.

pointers, advice , comments, criticism own

so its one step forward, two steps back for me this time

while i was smooth out all the bits and bobs before giving another go with the primer i decided the ears werent flat enough, for the ear's to go on flush enough, they were too round with the helmet so i've sanded it right down. and adding filler and smoothing it out, nice and flat, at least im trying to.

some pictures of the damage i did



this also shows the use of the cardboard for the ridge, which i regret doing but couldn't think of another way at the time.

waiting for filler to harden to sand down at the moment.

Looks great buddy! You can use some spot putty for that lil nick on the left ear i believe...keep it up!

My helmet has a lovely yellow colour to it from the filler primer, more sanding tomorrow then normal primer and then first bit of paint. It's having a temp paint job, royal navy theme. More to be come so keep watching, will be explained.

And thank you for the kind words Crank.

he's been out in the sun and got a tan






more sanding to do tomorrow

That looks really clean, you're doing a great job. My only critique at this point is how circular the dent is. On the screen bucket it has a much more angular look (triangles coming to a point)

i know about my dent, its the most un-accurate part of my helmet but well i've sort of forgot about it because it been like that for so long. it doesn't really bother me as im not going for screen accuracy, just to make a nice looking bucket which i think i am doing, thanks for the kind words as well

Lookin great bud! Your finish looks smooth and solid! I'm with Apolifka on the dent, but if you're too far ahead in production, you'd be surprised what a decent paint job can do for a helmet! Keep it up.

the finished product (for now, that is as far as the navy paint job is concerned)










best quality pictures i can take of it right now

enjoy

small update

four words, four pictures

the last moments before it was time to strip the paint off, couldn't help but take more pictures even though i already have them in abundance



started by trimming the excess below the vent



roughly smoothed it out


taped up my pre-made vent


applied filler and sat vent in place to make the perfect mould around the vent, taa daa


i love how well this technique works, now my vent fits like a glove into place.

next up, the paint comes off. got 80% of it off so far, taken longer to get it off than it did to put on.

this paint is taking longer to take off than it did to put on.



"without my bucket i am nothing"


vent in place


most of the way there.

after paints off i can get back to work on t
he ears. but i have no time so everything is taking 10 times longer.

so i am back to where i was about mid march before i painted it, now i get get to more on the shape of finish of it and maybe, maaaybee end up with a finished product. i wont hold my breath though.

picture time i guess.








hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful british summer weather :cool

time for a BBQ now and a cold one

Its looking good Rosskow. im eager to see how you tackle the ear caps and range finder. it seems your like me in the sense of real life keeps eating into your build time =) Hopefully ill be caught up with you soon on my build even tho im still in the resining paper stage. Ill be keeping a weathered eye on this thread and on therpf

Originally Posted by Lunchbox739

Its looking good Rosskow. im eager to see how you tackle the ear caps and range finder. it seems your like me in the sense of real life keeps eating into your build time =) Hopefully ill be caught up with you soon on my build even tho im still in the resining paper stage. Ill be keeping a weathered eye on this thread and on therpf

a follower on both thread, thank you.

this time i'll post up the picture first (because if you're anything like me you looks at them first then read)

lets see if you follow what im doing.








and a small description, cut the circle out, cut it down the middle, and now i had a lovely semi circle, taped the **** out of it to stop the filler sticking to it.
cut some MDF strips for the sides, taped them up.
fixed them all in place with.. blue tack :ohwell, it worked though
applied filler, wait 15 minutes, remove sides, let dry and sand to level/shape.
currently only sanded down the (helmets) left side, still do to the side with the range finder on.
hopefully get it down next weekend.

then make some ears, buy a range finder and hey-presto, done!

all sounds so easy...

i am close to having some ears now, ive spent long enough doing them, but still need some tweaking here and there, as everything always does.

roughly glued together (before cosmetic face lift)


didnt really look at the picture when i took, them now i've uploaded them and ive actually looked at them, they are ...lets say lacking in clarity.

just silly-taped to the helmet for now get a look see.



through that sun is a ear cap if you can see it.

i've not sanding down the right side of the helmet for the ear cap to go on yet though which i why its sticking out half mile.

if unpleased by this small updates heres a hamster on my helmet to make it up to you :happy

Very nice mate, i know how long you waited to have a set of ears and the misfortune of the previous ones. Now you can take pride in that you have created everything on this helmet, and a fantastic helmet it is.

Welsh

i just got to mould them now and then i can look at fixing that dent, make it accurate (to some degree) then im almost done, which ive thought/said many times before

- - - Updated - - -

just a couple of new, slightly clearer pictures






anyone got tips for moulding, what to use, where to buy how to do it and everything else involved

well.... first time moulder, first time failure

i didnt mix up enough silicone so i only have (barely) half the amount covering my ear cap than i wanted.

the proof is in the pudding below


almost got mad bubbles, dont know how it will turn out. i think it was because i mixed the silicone up too fast, it wasn't from pouring it, i spent about 20 minutes slowing pouring it in, i mixed it as though i was making an omlette so i ended up getting lots of air into it (lesson learnt, go slow mixing, less of a wip)

apart from all those problems and issues it all went peachy. that'll be left for 24 hr now before i carefully try to demould it.

meanwhile... i'll correct some minor issues with my bucket tomorrow.

edit: almost it hasn't leveled out properly yet, least i learnt alot from this, thats all i can take from this.

i've never been so nervous...




i dont know whether i should of left the gap out and then i could of just did it on the casts i pull, too late now though...
caused all kinds of problems getting out the master.

eventually got there



roughly trimmed it, bit worried about trimming it too much and pulling away something important, any tips on trimming it would be a massive help.

tomorrow, remove my other two moulds and maybe attempt a pull on my first mould.

things (still) to do:
-accurate dent, no idea how im going to do that though...
-some dents to fill in on the dome and smooth out
-fix curve on the the right cheek

i see an end in sight, but its still seems a fair distance away.


ALSO, any tips on cleaning out my mould before i try to cast it, the silicone just hangs on to any bits of dirt or dust that comes within 5 foot of it

i've been looking into moulding and casting this helmet, so are there any people out there interested purchasing a cast, it would include the helmet along with the ear caps, it would not include range finder, stalk, visor or MQ-1 circuit board. if you were interest what kind of price would you pay, PM me if you're interested...

great build thread. excellent work captain!

Originally Posted by sausagemahoney

great build thread. excellent work captain!

ive never been called a captain before but thank you very much

got my vent (semi) installed, its finished but just taped in for the time being

some full shots to show where i am, note the boba fett helmet shape helmet stand i made, i got a little bored










i think all i have to do now are the little arrows in the middle above the visor, how? i dont know yet.

if any one can see something thats missing or doesn't look right, just say so then i'll add it to the to do list.

i dont know what else call them other than the arrows, i have done a little more surgery on my helmet to get the rough shape out, started by drilling into it.



managed to do the second one a little cleaner


roughly shaped it out


and lastly, here you can see it's position on the helmet


thanks, see you again

cut the arrows right out


threw some filler in and stuck in my arrow shaped plug in


yet to clean it up, its looks wavey but its not as bad as it looks


now whether i get this moulded or not, im no where near skilled enough to paint it so i think it will only ever see primer paint so im fitting a permanent (styrene) visor.
ignore the cable ties, i had to pull in the cheeks as they weren't in the right position.

problem is that when the cheeks are correctly positioned so they are not outward from the helmet the visor area is slim to say the least.

so i have two options i see, allow the cheeks to be slightly opened outward from the helmet and get the right visor gap, or i can sand down the cheek edges to give a wider gap, or a little bit of both...

well, i've went through 3 styrene visors to get there but i managed to get a visor to fit in. once i did that i turned my attention to my black T-visor, same as i did with my styrene, heated it and slowly curved it, expect this time it didnt go to plan


anyone know if there is anyway to fix this, or anyone that needs a broken T-visor??

slight update, these look identical to pictures i only posted 10 days ago, but now with the addition of a styrene visor to hopefully get it final shape.










im getting sick of waiting, so im hitting it with some primer next, i know there will be plenty of pin holes and big holes to fix but im too impatient.

i am working on this still but it's taking an extensive amount of time to get those sharp details.
working on the mandible, to sharpen the edges but i just seem to keep adding filler, sanding , adding filler... you get the idea.

pictures despite lack of noticeable progress.




my camera makes the helmet look much more narrow than it is, its not as slim as it appears.